Splendid China Revamping Park To Lure Families

The Chinatown Area Will Be De-emphasized In Favor Of Big Cat Shows And Tiny Ice Sculptures.

December 28, 1996|By Jill Jorden Spitz of The Sentinel Staff

Splendid China, once staunchly resistant to change, already has reinvented itself once this year.

Now the park is doing it again.

After five months and $400,000 in advertising, officials are abandoning a campaign focusing on the park's free Chinatown area. Instead, they will try to attract children and families with animal shows, miniature cities carved out of ice and a bold new sign equipped with video monitors.

The 3-year-old park has established a following of senior citizens, but its miniature replicas of Chinese monuments haven't caught on with Central Florida's thrill ride-crazed theme park crowd.

''What we currently have may be right for a certain market,'' said Scott Shaw, who oversees Splendid China as assistant vice president of park owner CTS (China Travel Service) Investments. ''But it's a small part of the market we want to go after.''

To get a piece of the lucrative family market, Splendid China will start twice-daily big cat shows Feb. 1 featuring lions, leopards and more from Tiger's Eye Productions in Oviedo.

The shows initially will cost park visitors an extra $10 for adults and $5 for children. Eventually, the cat shows will be included in the park's $23.55 ticket price, Shaw said.

The wild animal training facility and owner David McMillan underwent a yearlong federal investigation after a member of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the cats were mistreated. The school was cleared earlier this year.

Besides adding the cat shows, Splendid China plans a refrigerated structure to house intricate ice cities carved by artisans from Harobing, China. Neither a price tag nor an opening date has been set.

Finally, the park will erect a $200,000 video-sign board - similar to those at sports arenas - that will give passersby a glimpse of what's going on inside the park. It should be up within eight weeks.

''Up until now, we haven't had the draw to get families in here,'' Shaw said. He called attracting families his ''top priority because it broadens the horizons of people who come here.''

As the family market becomes more important, Chinatown is becoming less important. The free area outside the park - featuring restaurants, shops and street vendors - has been the target of the park's advertising and marketing effort since Chinatown opened in July.

Chinatown still will be mentioned in future ads, but it no longer will be the focus, Shaw said.

''That's not the direction I wanted to go'' because the campaign attracted people to a free area staffed by independent business people, he said. ''We need to market our own venues.''

Other changes are in the works, too. Next month, the park will become part of a multiday pass that will let Automobile Association of America members pay one price to visit Splendid China, Cypress Gardens, Fantasy of Flight and Bok Tower.

A new assistant director of sales and marketing will help the park carve out a niche in the lucrative corporate and convention special-events market.

Although Splendid China's owners initially resisted change, they now see that there's no other choice, Shaw said.

''The executive level of CTS Investments realized that no longer is the philosophy of, 'Build it and they will come' valid,'' Shaw said. ''They built this park in the most competitive market in the world. It just wasn't as successful as they were thinking it would be.''